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Friday, April 06, 2007

Weird News Story

Dallas police and federal terrorism officials are investigating two women, both dressed in camouflage pants under their traditional Muslim robes and scarves, who were seen conducting what appeared to be surveillance and acting suspiciously at Dallas Love Field

Wearing camo under their Muslim garb?

One of the women, Kimberly "Asma" Al-Homsi, 42, of Arlington, who is on probation for a 2005 Garland road rage incident involving a fake grenade, is said to have long-range assault rifle and explosives training, according to a Dallas police intelligence bulletin issued March 5.

This chick is bad news.

"I'm a trained sniper and proud of it," Ms. Al-Homsi said in an interview Thursday after first refusing to comment on whether she has any terrorism ties. She then said no.

Trained sniper. Trained by whom?

On the afternoon of Feb. 25, Ms. Al-Homsi and a friend who could not be reached for comment, Aisha Abdul-Rahman Hamad, 50, of Irving, were spotted at Love Field wearing Muslim robes and camouflage pants and "acting suspiciously," the bulletin states. The surveillance video shows one of the women walking back and forth, apparently pacing off distances.

When confronted, the women told officials they were looking for the Frontiers of Flight museum.

People who look for a given location don't pace back and forth. They wander around.

They left in a red Honda. Descriptions of the incident and the car were circulated at the airport.

Two days later, the museum executive director was leaving for the evening when he noticed the Honda parked facing the runway. A woman, later identified as Ms. Al-Homsi, was sitting on the hood, looking through binoculars at the airplanes. He told the women the museum was closing, and they left.

Dallas officers stopped the car nearby, but the women refused to let police search their car, , according to a police report. The women had digital camera memory cards, binoculars, a flashlight and several lighters on them.

Police issued one of them a citation for having no front license plate and failing to change her address on a driver's license. They were released.

I have a question: why bother to go on airport property to watch the planes? Refer to this Google map of Love Field. Bachman Lake Park borders the airport at its northwest. If I wanted to watch planes, I think it would be more comfy to bring a lawn chair to the park and sit right across from the end of one of the two main runways. (I'd also prefer Northwest Highway traffic over Mockingbord Lane traffic.) [Update: This is not an endorsement for such planewatching activity.]

Note that the museum is almost right on the flight path of one of the runways.

This looks a lot like the (non)flying imams incident, an apparent PR stunt designed to freak out people and give CAIR types an excuse to whine about anti-Islamic bigotry.

Update: Let me bring your attention back to an earlier portion of the article (emphasis added):

Kimberly "Asma" Al-Homsi...is said to have long-range assault rifle and explosives training, according to a Dallas police intelligence bulletin issued March 5.

Where did she get the training? These skills, especially the latter, are military skills - they are not typically taught by private entities (that we want in our back yard).